I've blogged before about my undying love of second hand books, and thanks to an abundance of Oxfam and Cancer Research charity shops around good old London town, I've got myself a nice little stock-pile ready and waiting to go.

So I have this old book lying around - it's been half finished for some time now, and I've just not had the energy to get through to the end. It's not the easiest read, and I've been so sidetracked with other options that it's been neglected on my bookshelf.

Imagine my surprise when I picked it up last night to give it another shot and saw THIS:

Slightly ironic and yet appropriate fang marks, eh?

Though I'm fairly sure that those bite marks didn't come from Dracula.

(Why would he go for a recycled book when, fresh neck, hello, right here?)

No, I'd put it down to a slightly possessed cat who has a tendency to sit on the bookshelf and make noise/knock books off shelves at 3am every morning when he wants attention.

But still... fang marks! Ha!

Speaking of vampires, I've been reading the Charlaine Harris/Sookie Stackhouse novels for the past few months as well - they're good 'train books'. Because my commute into London every day is a bit all over the place (walk, bus, tube, walk) I need books that I can easily pick up where I left off - and these books fit the bill. And even though they're short books, they've taken me ages to get through for that very reason. A work colleague loaned me the ninth book and I'm just about ready to start on that... almost in time for the new edition. Oh Eric, Eric, Eric.

And speaking of loans, another kind friend has just lent me the first book in the Milennium series - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - and I'm really hoping to get into that soon too. Let's not even mention the other stack of unread goodies I have sitting on our bookshelves here.

What can I say? I'm a book nerd. And proud of it!

Got any real gems you'd recommend? I'm always up for suggestions.. or hand-me-downs!

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comments:

I haven't read this yet, so I can't recommend it, but I did read an excerpt of it in the New York Times, which is what prompted me to request it at the library: Orange is the New Black, by Piper Kerman. Memoir of her time in prison. And, she went to my alma mater, so we have a connection!

I watch True Blood, so it's kind of like I read those Sookie books. ...Except the other day I got into a conversation with someone who actually READS them and I had no idea what they were talking about.

one of my favorite reads recently was water for elephants. also since you love pride and prejudice so much did you know the author just released a prequel? as well as a jane eyre adaptation as well i believe. you can read them and tell me how they are :)

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is great, I'm just finishing it (and luckily have the 2nd book ready waiting to go). I've actually found it quite a good train book, although I have a pretty good chance of a seat on the Jubilee line and stay there for 20mins :)

I can't think of anything that I'd recommend other than that! There must be lots though :)

This has been on my to-read list for the longest time, as well as The Picture of Dorian Gray. One of my big new year's resolutions this year was to get back into reading - last year I fell off the wagon and this year I'm determined to read at least ONE book per month. If you like amazing, beautiful writing and slight fantasy, the Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake is my all-time favourite; closely followed by anything by Neil Gaiman, but I would have to say Neverwhere is top for me. Such imagination! Right now I am reading a book called "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle, which apparently has been popular for a long time and I'm just a new kid on the block lol - it's really interesting, all about personal awareness and growing past the ego and becoming "enlightened". It's really interesting :)

About Me

Breathe Gently

I'm Aly - a SAHM from Sydney, Australia. I married my best friend in 2011 & we live together with our crazy cats and golden retriever. After battling through infertility, PCOS and IVF, our miracle daughter was born in March 2013. After 3 miscarriages, 3 freeze all stim cycles & 8 FETs, we finally welcomed our rainbow baby daughter in September 2016. Being lucky enough to raise two beautiful girls means that life is pretty darned spectacular.